John Romita Sr.The Amazing Spider-Man#85
Kingpin and the Schemer Cover Original Art (Marvel, 1970). The
Amazing Spider-Man, America's teen sensation superhero, is stuck
between an irresistible evil mastermind -- and an immovable crime
boss -- namely, the Schemer and the Kingpin, in this classic cover
by one of Marvel's Mightiest artists. A dynamic image of the
wondrous webspinner snared in a-web-not-of-his-own-making graces
this action-packed extravaganza by Johnny "Ring-a-Ding" Romita Sr.
-- the artist many consider to be Spidey's best. With an image area
measuring approximately 10" x 15", this Bronze Age blockbuster has
areas of white-out; otherwise, it's in Excellent condition, and
best of all, it's drawn on bristol art paper, not vellum. Some of
the logos and type elements are adhered with clear tape, but
overall this is an outstanding Spider-cover with tremendous
eye-appeal that will make some Marvel art collector very happy. The
competition for covers like this has historically been quite
fierce, so bid early, bid often, and you might walk away with a
significant Spidey classic.

Romita Sr., John:(American, b. 1930): John Romita Sr. started drawing comics after spending a year in commercial art. His first jobs were done for the Atlas group in 1949, and he drew mostly horror and romance stories, but also war, western, and crime features. After the Atlas implosion, Romita Sr. went to DC, where he drew romance stories for eight years. After that, it was back to Marvel, where he initially inked The Avengers and drew Daredevil. However, Romita Sr.'s most celebrated work was done for the Amazing Spider-Man, the feature he took over when Spider-Man co-creator Steve Ditko left Marvel in 1966. Under Romita Sr.'s tenure, Spider-Man became one of the comic field's most popular characters. Romita Sr. left his regular Spider-Man art chores in the early seventies to become an Art Director at Marvel in the Special Projects Department, and as Art Director for Marvel Books. In 1977, Romita Sr. briefly drew the syndicated Spider-Man newspaper comic strip. His son, John Romita Jr., is also an artist at Marvel.